Filner releases pension plan

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Mayoral candidate Bob Filner has released a pension plan he says can save the city of San Diego $753 million over the next 15 years — nine months after he first said he would have the plan in writing.

The congressman’s plan hinges on refinancing the city’s pension debt, capping pensions, eliminating employee retirement contribution offsets and negotiating a five-year contract with city employees. But it would keep traditional pensions.

Filner has touted his plan as an alternative to Proposition B, a measure on the June 5 ballot that would replace guaranteed pensions with a 401(k)-like system for most new city hires. That initiative also would freeze for five years the portion of employee salaries used to calculate pensions.

The lone Democrat running for San Diego mayor has repeatedly promised to present a plan that would free up hundreds of millions of dollars and solve the city’s pension problems for good, but did not actually have that plan in written form until this weekend.

A post on Filner’s website dated Saturday reiterates some of the pension changes he has been talking about since he first said he would release a formal plan in July 2011.

A key feature of the proposal is using bonds to refinance the current pension deficit to reduce the city’s pension payments more than $500 million over the next 10 years. That money could be used to bolster city services, according to Filner.

The plan also calls for reaching a five-year labor contract with city workers that he said would save the city $250 million. That figure assumes there would be no pay increase for two years and a maximum of 2 percent in each of the next three.

Filner also says his proposal would end six-figure pensions.

The online plan does not cite how the numbers were calculated or if it has undergone an actuarial analysis.

The proposal also says he would create an advisory panel to the mayor and city council to discuss a variety of pension topics such as the merits of how the system is currently governed and cost of living increases.

Filner has not proposed putting his plan before voters. The deadline to place it on the June ballot has long since passed.

His three main opponents — City Councilman Carl DeMaio and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, both Republicans, and independent Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher — all support Proposition B.

Filner did not immediately return phone calls and email requests for comment, but his mayoral opponents were quick to criticize his plan.

“I think Bob Filner continues to kick his rusty pension can down our crumbling roads,” Dumanis said. “I think it continues to show poor leadership since it is really a borrowing plan and not the real pension change voters want now.”

DeMaio expressed similar concerns about the plan and added that, unlike Proposition B, it does not have the data to support its claims.

“Prop. B is a plan that is detailed and has had numerous legal and financial assessments to validate it,” said DeMaio, a lead author of Proposition B. “Filner’s plan is full of talking points without real financial forecasts.”

Fletcher did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The city’s independent budget analyst projected Proposition B will save $950 million, completely from the initiative’s plan to freeze the pensionable pay of current city employees for five years. Filner and other critics predict that component of the plan will be overturned in court. Critics of the measure also point out that the same analysis shows the switch to a 401(k)-style plan would actually cost the city $13.5 million over 30 years.